It wasn’t your
average silent night at Midvale’s Tyler Library on Feb. 27. The usual hush-hush
environment was broken up by rhythms of island music and stories told through swaying
hips and hands.

That night, the
library played host to Happy Hula, a Polynesian entertainment group from Provo
that performs dances from various Polynesian islands. Dancer Tauhere Alvarez
said she hoped people felt the aloha spirit.

“We just want
people to have a good time, ‘cause we have a good time,” Alvarez said.

Group director
Noa Wetzel said she hoped people experienced “just a love for Polynesian
culture through dance and song and just be interested in learning about it.”

The Provo-based
group was started four years ago by Wetzel, a Samoan who grew up in New Zealand
before moving to America as a teenager.

“I was trying to
teach it first as classes, one day someone called for a show. Then when I did
that show I realized, ‘oh that’s what I like,’” she said. Wetzel learned the
dancing and music in New Zealand where they teach it in schools.

Currently, the
group—where people join for free—is made up of about 35 people ranging from
pre-teens to senior citizens. Wetzel said many of the islanders in the group
were born here so the group is a chance to learn more about different
Polynesian cultures. They also are taking a trip next year to New Zealand.

“We just try to connect
them back to the cultures and take them back to the islands,” she said.

Many members of
the group come from different island cultures and those who aren’t, as Wetzel
put it, are “Polynesian at heart.” Alvarez is part Tahitian, part Romanian. She
said she loves that she can learn about different cultures.

“Coming together
[the other dancers] learn about my culture and I learn about theirs and we all
come to be friends and then we get to share it through entertainment. It’s so
cool,” Alvarez said having been part of the group since its inception.

It is
appropriate then that group does dances from multiple locations such as the
Cook Islands, Fiji and Tonga.

“All of them
have slightly different styles even though they look generally the same,
there’s different ways to move your hands in different cultures,” Alvarez said.
Her favorite dance is a solo Tahitian dance she’s recently started which is of
a slower pace than the quick hip shaking done with Tahitian dances.

“They tell a
story with their hands and their hips.”

The night’s
entertainment included a famous dance and song from the recent Pixar film,
“Moana,” along with some audience participation where they learned some dancing
styles.

Wetzel said the Polynesian culture is very
open.

“It’s just a
positive thing in general. People who love music, people who love dance, it’s
beautiful like that,” she said.

Alvarez added
that the dancing is a way for the culture to preserve its heritage.

“Sometimes
(things) can get lost through the generations, but they’re preserving it and
that’s really special,” Alvarez said.

Happy Hula will
be holding a fundraiser on June 10 at the Utah Valley University Ballroom where
they’ll raise money for both their trip to New Zealand and for a local hospital
to serve women who have lost a child.